Harbor Freight Digital Micrometer

[Charley Davidson]

I got one of these for Father's Day. Sat down and fiddled with it last night.
Mine will not change to inches, it's stuck on metric.
So I'll be exchanging it pretty soon.

I thought the same thing as I was trying it out in the store but discovered it's little seceret so bought me one. Paul also gave me one of those in the care package he sent home with me so I let my friend have it to go along with his lathe.

 

[fastback]

Well I started reading this thread and was impressed at what was being said about the HF digital. So impressed, I went to HF (about 2 miles from my house) and bought the only one they had on the shelf. Naturally, once I got it home I needed to try it out. It didn't work on the inch scale. When I pressed the mm/in button I was able to get MM and a reading. I don't use metric so I switched to in. Now inches did show on the readout (actually both in and mm showed at the same time) however, it only read in metric. So needless to say I brought it back, but they had no others in stock. I decided that I had to buy something so I bought the no battery digital. Now that one worked just fine. Oh, and I got a free 25 foot tape measure to add to the other 20)

I don't want you to think that this will be my only mike I have a number of them. I have multiples of 1, 2, 3's as well as a Starrett 2 to 6 inch. You need to change the anvils. I bought a new one so when my eyes are tired I can still read without a magnifying glass. I now have 2 Starrett 436, a Brown & Shop w/ no ratchet. This one is my favorite. I also have a Craftsman I got when I started trade school (was there only a short time before transferring to regular HS) a set of 1, 2 and 3 made in china that was given to me. I guess at some point I'll try another digital when HF gets new stock

 

[Analias]

I bought this tonight when I went in to pick up the machinist style tool boxes HF has on sale for $69 (member price). No discount, but the temptation became great enough that I put them in the basket for $34.95.

When I got home I pulled out my gauge blocks and gave them a quick test. If you look at the inspection sheet for the gauge blocks you'll see that the .100" block has +2 on it. I zeroed the mic and gave it three measurements: .1001, .1002, .1001. Not bad.



Hopefully, I have attached these correctly.

 

[fastback]

Hope it continues to work out well for you. One question, why didn't you use a 20% of coupon? The price you paid is a good price, but you could have gotten another $7.00 off. I was just wondering. I never buy anything at HF without a coupon.

 

[rebush]

Tony: Always enjoy reading your posts, and have always learned from them. I don't believe there's such a thing as too much good information. Roger

 

[Kroll]

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=25446&site=ROCKLER
Just another option---kroll

 

[Tony Wells]

Tony: Always enjoy reading your posts, and have always learned from them. I don't believe there's such a thing as too much good information. Roger

Thanks, rebush. I've been accused of providing too much information, but I'd rather give too much than not enough. Glad you enjoy reading!

 

[MikeWi]

I don't use metric so I switched to in. Now inches did show on the readout (actually both in and mm showed at the same time) however, it only read in metric. So needless to say I brought it back, but they had no others in stock.

I was confused about this as well (bought this yesterday) but it takes a very long press on the mm/in button to get it to switch to inches. the inc mm you saw meant that it was in incremental mode for mm. It was actually working fine!

 

[GK1918]

Cant say that I dont get up early, my son dragged me off I figure nothing to lose for that price, NOT a
single mic on the shelf. Oh well. > up to 7 inch snap gauge set, 20 piece end mill set HSS tool blanks,
box of HSS parting, and some other junk. I call all of this my backup stuff. Gotta good chuckle out of
the end mill wood box. Ole Tubal nailed that one, a barefoot kid, dirt floor shop you just gotta see
the hinges or an extremely rough ride on the boat. My cat could do a better job. This is hard to explain
one hinge close to correct and the other 90 degrees to the correct one and the worthless screws split
the wood. For fun I glued and clamped the box, put a brass piano hinge a little mahog. stain so it now
resembles a box. To think about it no one could be that stupid, more like a joke or mad at the boss.
I wont say what my kid spent, he needs theropy !

 

[Ray C]

I just picked-up this same mic yesterday. I took a chance on one that had a damaged box and was marked down at the sidewalk sale for 25 bucks. The mic was fine but the plastic box -not so good. It got stepped on or crushed. I asked if I could return it if discovered it was way out of calibration. The Mgr yes yes. I have a 1" standard and a only a couple gauge blocks and it checked-out fine.

-And yes, it took a bit of fiddling to get the in/mm and zero function figured-out. Mine did not come with an instruction sheet so I had to fiddle w/it. You know, I think I like that thing! My eyes are really struggling to see regular mics anymore.



PS: Note to MikeWi. I accidentally started to edit your original post. I meant to reply to it but pressed the wrong button. I did not change any of your content or statements. Please accept my apology. I simply pressed the wrong button.

I was confused about this as well (bought this yesterday) but it takes a very long press on the mm/in button to get it to switch to inches. the inc mm you saw meant that it was in incremental mode for mm. It was actually working fine!